As various nonionic surfactants and anionic surfactants which are commonly used at present, those derived from alcohols originated from petrochemical raw materials or alcohols originated from oil and fats raw materials are known.
As the method of producing alcohols originated from petrochemical raw materials which alcohols are called synthetic alcohols, for example, there is a method in which a compound having an internal olefin is derived by an oligomerization reaction through ethylene and then converted into an alcohol derivative by oxo reaction. It is known that the synthetic alcohol obtained resultantly is a mixture containing about 20% by weight of branched alcohols besides about 80% by weight of linear alcohols. It is known that various surfactants derived from synthetic alcohols have such excellent characteristics that they have a low Krafft point and are not precipitated in hard water as compared with derivatives from linear alcohols.
On the other hand, it is known that various surfactants derived from alcohols originated from oil and fats raw materials which alcohols are one type of natural alcohols have the characteristics such as high foaming ability, foam retaining ability, low cmc, high cloud point and high emulsifying ability compared with surfactants derived from synthetic alcohols.
As mentioned above, the surfactants derived from synthetic alcohols are different from those derived from natural alcohols in properties and performances. Therefore, it is usually necessary to use different surfactants according to the use of the surfactant at present.
There is an increased and worldwide demand for natural alcohols in view of the carbon neutral at present. However, surfactants derived from natural alcohols are inferior to those derived from synthetic alcohols in low temperature stability. Therefore, there is a fear that they have not a little adverse influence on the appearance and performance of a system in which they are blended.